LAHORE, Feb 23: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has directed the Punjab police inspector general to submit challans of all under-investigation cases in the province within three days.

The direction came during the hearing of Advocate Shabnam Briyal murder case when her husband and the accused, Ali Nawaz, was produced before the court on Thursday and the under-trial told the court that he had been produced before any court 10 months after his arrest.

The apex court was told some police officers repeatedly extended judicial remand through fake signatures of a magistrate to keep Ali Nawaz in detention.

IG Habibur Rehman said action had been initiated against the guilty police officers. He also told the court that at present 23,000 cases were being investigated while challans of 2,316 cases had not been sent to courts.

Show-cause notices had been issued to all district police officers who showed slackness in this regard while departmental action against 694 officers had been initiated.

Expressing his displeasure, the chief justice said only issuing of show-cause notices would not do the job as the IG should prove himself as true commandant of the police force.

He said challan in any case must be submitted to the relevant court within 15 days come what may, otherwise it would be a violation of the basic human rights of the accused.

The CJP also directed that no magistrate should extend judicial remand of an accused unless the police submitted challan in the case.

Censuring Punjab Home Secretary Shahid Khan, who was also present in the court, the CJP asked what was going on in the biggest province of the country and in the presence of administration. The court remarked that through fake signatures, the accused police officers attempted to jeopardise the whole system.

He said the IG under whose nose all this was happening should also be taken to task.

Taking notice of VIP facilities provided to inmates serving terms in fraud and corruption cases on the pretext of being sick, the court directed the home secretary to probe what kind of diseases the prisoners admitted to jail hospitals were suffering from.

The CJP also sought within seven days a report from the provincial government on construction of new prisons and expansion of the existing ones.